I need a purpose

Growing up .. you studied so you can get to the next level - from secondary to university to job. But once you reach the job, then what do you do? I am rather lost. I need some direction or at least something to work towards. I cannot just keep on plodding away. I need to do something besides play the ps2 game (for pp in the know, i am currently playing Dragon Quest. SO FUN!!).

Maybe i will snap out of this once i am immersed in my work? Some delegation is coming in a week's time. That should be interesting ...

Why do Institutions matter in Politics?

I have been trying to study (read memorise) for my exam in comparative politics tom. and this is supposedly one of the questions that will be coming out for tom - why do institutions matter in politics? So let me revise a little while i Procrastinate and this would be a good crib sheet for those who want the answer to that question ...

- to understand how institutions shape today's politics, we have to understand how institutions shape politics in the past (path dependency)
- institutions shape how politics is conducted
- institutions shape incentives which then shape political behaviour
- the persistance of informal institutions make them important because of their influence on politics
- Insitutions can affect the governance of a country
- institutions provide us with a context to understand how people rationalise and intepret actions and decisions
- even if institutions do not work as they should, they still have an impact on politics

and finally, Institutions matter because ..... IT IS COMING OUT IN TOMORROW'S EXAM. (or at least i hope it will).

Hello ... World!!!

Just completed my first exam and three more to go ... sigh .. then it will be the end of my uni career for now. I will be going into the brave new world of WORK - the world where things matter and grades are not the only things that matter. The world where your friends will not be in the grad room waiting for you. The world where you have to wake up at 8 just to get to work at 9 so that you can end at 6 (assuming that you do end at 6).

Well i will be accepting the job offer from THAT govt agency so I was just wondering whether I can blog after that?? definitely nothing too personal about work .. but then with the type of work .. I won't be having a life to blog about. hahaha


So right now i have 3 more exams to go before the world beckons. I plan to go on a holiday but due to the lack of companions and time and the general sucky weather in the northern hemisphere, I am short of places to go.

So to ANYONE that wants to go on holiday - whther it is to batam, bali, bangkok, bangladesh, britain or brazil (goodness .. i am on a roll!!) please call me a along .. I promise i would be a nice travel companion.

Finally done with assignments .. onwards to exams

I have finally finished my last assignment today - my Japanese studies essay abotu expatriates in Japan. Fun thing was I got to interview my aunt and uncle who were expats in Japan. Overall the whole assignment was actually fun. And my presenation kick ASS with all the pretty graphics and the great images ... thanks to my mastery of Keynotes :) Thanks Steve ...

Anyway .. onwards to exams. Four exams more. The first one will start in about 1 1/2 weeks time and the last will end on 30 Nov. Hopefully ... i hope and pray that I can go to Italy in early Dec :P I have that fate would favour me with a holiday after I finish my exams.

I have an interview tom with EDB - my third one ... *cross fingers* but then ... well I won't say anything now. Who knows who is reading this blogs - prob no one. haha!

New blog template - procrastination odyssey part deux

just realise i have to change my blog template... it looks funny on safari and I cant stand it.
Soon ... well that's relative ... prob at the end of the year. haha

Found Nice pictures - procrastination odyssey

I found these picutres in deviant art by this person called nocturnal devil - i think they look very burton-isque. Which reminds me .. I have not watched Corspe bride yet. God, I hate it when assignments and school ruin my movie outings. :P

Just realised ...

I have not been blogging for a while. That's cos i have tonnes of work to do: presentation, assignments, and one mid term exam next week.

one interesting assignment is the japanese studies one where i get to interview two people who have lived in japan based on your chosen theme of course. I chose my aunt and uncle and the theme is the socialisation of expatriates in Japan. It is turning out to be a very interesting and fascinating topic. I hope that i can keep up the enthusiasm till the end of Oct when i have to present the paper and submit it. Otherwise, it has been a learning curve.

Also i have been frantically applying for jobs .. well not frantically cos i have only applied for a few till now. It takes a freaking long time just to complete one application, you know. And they ask really tricky questions (IMO) about what you can contribute to the company. If they haven't noticed, i will be a fresh grad and the only thing i can truthfully contibute is carbon dioxide and probably body heat (but they already have the thermosat for that). So I promise that i will do one application per day till i finish the list of companies that i want to apply for.

I hope and pray i get something good. something that pays wells. something that challenges me. something that is ... well you get the picture.

A long day

After only sleeping for 5 1/2 hours, I woke up at 7 am to go for class.

0900-1230 - media class ... i had to give a presentation on a Singapore government campaign and assess its effectiveness
1400-1500 - rush from NUS to city hall
1500-1700 - the second round of my interview. I had to prepare a presentation on a country that is a competitor with Singapore and show how Singapore can collaborate. Well ... i think it went alright :)
1700-1830 - rush back to NUS for classes in the evening
1830-2100 - classes on the economic development of .. today was Singapore and Taiwan
2100-2200 - travel home ...

So finally .. i am home and i can sleep. I just need to get up early tom so i can finish my readings for comparative politics tom. sigh ...

Journey to the car (after the Class Reunion)

After the class reunion, Ramani was really nice to offer us a ride to the city. We were in the unknown (ulu) lands called Chinatown or Chin Swee Road. So we walked and walked. The car was so farking far. Lucikily I had nimale and a camera to entertain myself (no ... nothing dirty). Anyway, if you need a car to fetch the whole soccer team, Ramani is the MAN to call. His car is so freaking big and it even has a DVD player.

We walked ...

And walked ... oh look we are finally at the Singapore General hospital (where the car is parked) cos RA mum has staff parking (read FREE!)

And walked ...

Almost there ... see the lift sign on the top

The culprit :)

Ah ... the car finally. It just took us 10-15 mins to get to it.

Look how spacious it is

Jason was delirious from some joke. I can't remember what. See .. this is what you get from blogging so late after the event. My Bad!!

The LCD screen that is connected to the DVD player. EVERYONE say wuuuu ...

This was some random people that I took that were having a wedding photo session in the trishaw.

A closeup of the entourage ... I spy with my little eye ... some overly made-up bridesmaids. The photographer apparently spotted me taking a photo. Sadly we zoomed away

Class Reunion

After much procrastination, I am going to put up the photos that I took for the class reunions the previous saturday. First off, I am no fan of class reunions. How odd to meet people who knew you in your past, where you were someone else (unless you have remain stagnant/unchanged for the last 7 years). They remember you as you were, not as you are. Then there is a short intermission, where they reconcile the past and present you, and then comment how you have changed so much. Where in fact, you feel that you have not changed at all, maybe just a little but not as drastic as they say.

Anyway, my class had 30 pp and only about 12 pp came for the lunch. Thanks Poh Cheng for organising the class reunion, although I have to say that the food was nothing to rave about (cold fried tim sum and things with unidentifiable contents). Okay ... enough ... bring on the photos. Its basically taken from a round table so the angles will look horrible and the people are not exactly very cooperative. I will go in order from left to right.

Ramani and Lionel

Nimale - he came late

Jason Cheong and Qing Qiang

Poh Cheng and Wei How

Wei How and Gong Wei

Ming Qian, Andre and Alex (I like the waiter at the back)

Finally, Peter (and no .. he is not picking his nose) and Danica (he's shy).

So in the end, it was nice to know what everyone was doing. But again the high school groups emerged and those who were from the same social group sat together and chatted. There were the people who bridged these groups and were able to facilitate the conversation. But then it was always like that in 4A3 in SJI 1997. Au revior to the past... See you all in 2007 for the class of 1997 reunion.

childish?

After typing that entry, I realise that it was quite cathartic and rather childish of me.

Anyway, I will blog about my class reunion (that went on last saturday) soon. I have photos too :P

What is with these people

There are two people that has been pissing me off for the past week. Let's call them L and S.

Well, L*** wanted to take the media class that I am in so she asked me about the class (how it is and stuff) and I was happy to oblige because I would have someone familiar in the class. Then the horror started. She keeps asking me for the textbooks and note to the class. And that is all she ever talks to me about. Walked by her this afternoon, L says immediately, "hi ... do you have the textbook for the media class?" That's all!! No hi, how are you?? And this is like the 3rd time she is asking me. I thought you are suppose to get it YOURSELF!! If you were nice to me I would have lent you my photocopied text (which by the way, has Infringed on almost all the copyright laws :).

And the most annoying thing is that she cannot pronounce me name properly. At first, I thought it was her short vietnamese lisp which prevented her from pronouncing my name properly. So my name came out "shaw" instead of 'Shawn'. Then I get an sms which started "hi Shaw..." Argh ...

Okay then S****, another girl in the class. She mentioned that I could borrow her readings and I just needed to sms her on the day to bring it. I smsed her to bring to class and no reply. I see her in class (without any files or big bags) on the same day and she did not approach me to say anything. So I assumed that she does not want to lend me. Fine ...

I organise a group to photocopy the readings today and while walking to the library, another friend mentions to S that we are going to photocopy the readings. S then says "hey I already have all the readings, why don't I lend you all the readings to photocopy?" OMG deja vu. But S turns to me and says, "Oh shawn knew that I had it and smsed me the other day. I BROUGHT the file but I did not talk to her so ..." How was I suppose to know that I was suppose to talk to you when you did not even reply. By the way, you LIAR, you did not bring a file that day. You brought one of those small bags that can only carry a wallet, pen and phone.

Argh ... people are so annoying. I want to move to the mountains and be a hermit.

If you are bored

I am doing my readings now for comparative politics, and Mao sent me this link. Very entertaining. Look at it if you are bored or you are trying to indulge in a little escapism. Here is the link.

My life so far

I just realise that I have not been blogging for a while. After the euphoria of receiving the new ibook, I seem to forget that one od the main reasons for getting the ibook is so that I can access the internet from my room (which by implication would mean that I would be able to blog more). By the way, SORRY to the person that I am leaching bandwidth from ... well I am not that sorry *evil grin*.

So for the past week, I have been trying to settle my school timetable. YES!! I am in the final semester of my Masters program and will be completing in the next few months (after an exhuasting schedule of assignments and seminars). So for the really kay-poh pp, I will be doing:
- Media, Public Opinion and Public policy [this is held at the Lee Kuan Yew School of public policy and it is BEAUTIFUL! The number of donors they have ... amazing. And they have such a nice reception area and nice classrooms for the 100 odd students that they have. While the hoi polloi slum it out in the ASes]
- Economic Growth in East Asia [ I am assure by everyone that takes this module that it is soooo easy and an A is guaranteed. And more importantly, I don't have to do the readings.]
- Contemporary japanese social Issue {all the better to understand the Jap dramas .. harhar!! well not really but it does help in some way]
- Approaches to Comparative Politics [Kjiaw (pronounced Chor) - Burmese lecturer educated in Cornell ... very interesting teaching method and very interesting content. Enough Said)

So sadly my life so far is revolving around school and work. Not much of work though since ALL I do now is go into office and check the email (oh it's Col so and so ... does concern ME ... IGNORE). The most I do is to plan when I will be taking leave - usually on the days that I have morning classes.

Oh and my life on TV land is rather limited. Joan of Arcadia and Gilmore Girls on Sundays. Then followed by the Apprentice (yes I got sucked into the show - kill me Whydoncha!). And of course America's Next Top Model - no ... dont need to tell me. I already know Naima is the winner of this season 4. God ... TCS is a real slowpoke when it comes to acquiring foreign shows. (don't cha love it when they are televising Spiderman - the first installment - two years after the movie was released and they actually have the audacity to tag it with a line - "FIRST TIME ON TV"!! Of course it is the first time on TV cos you are so farking slow. And you are the only local English channel.)

My precious find tonight - with relation to the America's Next Top Model - it's the blog of the second runner up for the first season Ellyse Sewell. It is really her and she is in Hong Kong. Should read her blog if you want a good perspective on the model industry. Also a plus is that she can actually WRITE and she writes well.

School is starting in 5 .. 4 .. 3 .. 2 ..

School is starting. The bulk of my classes will start next week but I have already attended a class last Thursday. Yawn ... On the one hand, I don't think I have sufficiently rested to being another semester. But on the other hand, I am really excited to start this new semester because:
- I realise that I have been bored these past few months. With no strucutred classes to motivate me to read stuff, I have basically done little reading except for the Shannara series by Terry Brooks and a few other non-fiction books - How globalisation works?, Everything bad is good for you (Really interesting and highly recommended ), some book I about brand marketing about using the five senses (which I can't remember the title and can't be bother to google to find it) and numerous other books about finding the right career for you (I still can't decide what colour my parachute is).
- this semester is my last one. I will be taking 5 subjects and then I will finish up my course. Yippee!!
- it coincides with the end of my indentured slavery under the National Consciption Act. Hurrah!!

So it really is a period pregnant with expectations. (I think I used that correctly) The only concern I have now is what to tae for my five subjects. I think I will taking:
- Media, public opinion and public policy (Attending the first class made me think how the subject was related to what Toby, Sam and CJ did in the West Wing - spinning the story and controlling the media. I guess only Nimale will understand what I am talking about.)
- Economic Growth and Development (usual developement economics stuff)
- Economic Growth in East Asia (Covering the East Asian Economic Success)
- Contemporary Japanese Social Issues (Interesting. Should be talking about the aging population, salarymen, disenfranchised youths, iron triangle ...)
- Approaches to Comparative Politics (No idea what this will be about but it's taught by some guy who is highly recommended by friends. He is also a Burmese expert so it should be interesting)

Goodness ... how dreary all these must sound. I guess the tone of the blog will be changing from this point on. It will be about academic trivia and essay deadlines. What joy!

Escapism?

Today I came across a mention about a scholarship for Singaporeans to study (of all things) Maritime Economics. Sounds interesting and you get to go to the Netherlands to get the MSc from the Erasmus University. (Yes Stef ... i have a fascination with Europe). Application is due end of next week though so I have only one week to consider.

I was thinking I should just go ahead and complete the forms and see how.. But would this be the ultimate escapism? From work ... From responsibilities ... From Life ...
____________________________

Update: 10 June 2005
After much vaccilation, I have decided that I will not apply for this scholarship. What am I to do with a masters in maritime economics and LOGISTICS? I can't even tell the difference between a ship and a ship (see, i can't even give you an example of the different ships). So I shall wait for my next opportunity which is in October when the new scholarhips under the EU Erasmus program are released. There is the Masters in Economics and Law ... and hopefully something else, maybe in the field of International Trade. I hope ...

In the meantime, I have started my resume and will start mailing it out soon.

After the Exams - an important 3 months

It is the end of the exams and I am back to my normal life again. The exams were okay. Both Comtemporary Asian Diplomacy and SEA Economies should be fine. It is the SEA Politics that is the problem: it was difficult and the lecturer set really tricky questions. But oh well it is over and done. I have three months holiday till the next semester starts. Time to slack around and catch up on all the books, games and DVDS. (PS: I just got some more books from the Times Books Sale over the Weekend. They were also selling Harry Potter for only $7 - CHEAP! but I already have it.)

But I don't intend to waste my holidays ... at least not all of it :P I will be

1. changing my blog designs - i am getting tired of the design and the whole 'whiteness' of it. I am currently playing around with a template that I copied but I will be modifying it - A lot. So in a way it is not plagarism. haha

2. apply and reasearch for jobs - basically i will be graduating this nov and i will be unemployed so i better apply for something. I am looking at banks (investment and private) and governement (MAS, IE, MTI, MFA ...) and international organisations (primariyl the World Bank). I am really interested in the World Bank position though - it combines development work with economics and research. And you get to travel (hopefully) and get to work on issues that actually help the planet (presumably, unless Wolfowitz takes over the World Bank and it becomes a department under the US State Dept. but that is another story).

3. finally, plan for my scholarship application. This is also something that I am interested in - the EU Scholarship for a Masters in Economics and Law. This will be a masters in the economic analysis of law - hmmm .. i have no idea what that means too. The attractive thing about this scholarship is there is NO Bond (unlike the stinking scholarhips / servitude system in Singapore). And I get to visit one university per semester - that is I get to study at one university for each semester based on the subjects that I want to take (countries include Germany, France, Italy, Netherlands, Belgium, and UK). I am eyeing the Netherlands, Germany and UK.

So this three months are important. What I do in these three months will determine my future. SO as Stef would say "Gambette!!"

Essay Grade

So excited!! I got an A for my essay on trade policy for the Asian Diplomacy Class. hahaha ... spent so much time and effort on it and I got an A. Only 6 pp in the class got an A or A- grade so this is a GOOD thing. The lecturer said that my essay was professionally written. I even got a higher grade than pp who did political science in their undergrad. Who says an economist cannot do PS??

"My, what a big head you have!!"

Guess it is time to stop gloating.

Musings about my Future

I will be finishing my indenture soon. Then it is off to the real world. But then what to do, what to do? I know I should work but then where? I want to work in some fantastic and challenging job that deals with international issues and lets me jet around the world to see new things .. but how likely is that :D Maybe a bank, investment firm, a consulting firm, or even god forbid ... the government. The ministry of foreign affairs does seem to suit me rather well but I can't seem to get any information about the culture or work that they inside. That's very annoying!!

Also, am thinking of applying for a scholarship to go to Europe to study "economic analysis of law". This scholarship allows you to go to three different European cities to study for your masters. So I am eyeing Rotterdam, Netherlands; then off to Hamburg, Germany; then finish off in Manchester, UK. Then I will be able to work in UK after that? Not too sure about that or even about getting the scholarship. Seems that competition is tough and it is open to international applicants. Scary!!

So in the meantime, I have to struggle through another round of exams, then it is the holidays and then another semester of studying ... THEN i will be ___ B.com (Honours), M.Soc.Sci (International Studies) :P

Till then, the status quo is maintained.

Signed

Your ever faithful indentured servant.

Another essay ...

This time it is on whether Asian Foreign Policies are basically Trade Policies.

This essay took a lot of time cos I have to compile statistics and create tables and graphs to try to impress my lecturer. Hopefully I can stun him with the work I did and he would be more lenient in grading the paper :P

Sorry there is going to be another one more essay coming up. Sigh ... my life right now seems to be about writing essays rather than anything else. Sad really.

Here is my conclusion (edited for your viewing pleasure):

We can propose a general hypothesis about when a country’s foreign policies are dominated by trade policies. Trade policies would dominate when a country, without much resource, enters the development phase. The country would want to maintain a peaceful environment to pursue its development objectives. This would most often entail a neutral and bland foreign policy as the country would not be able to properly separate economic and political goals. Trade policies would supersede its foreign policies especially if the country subscribes to an export oriented industrial policy. International environment and external influences also affect a country’s use of trade policies. The general orthodoxy of economic liberalism, coupled with the trend towards economic regionalism and bilateralism, has created an environment where trade issues are becoming more important. The military support of the US and its support for economic liberalism during the Cold War have also contributed to the dominance of trade policies among Asian foreign policies.

Presumably, when it becomes developed, the country will proceed to ‘higher’ forms of politics. However, Singapore will not change its reliance on trade policy, as the domestic constraints will always be present. Conversely, there may be a reverse in the dominance of trade policies in Japanese foreign policies. Japan exhibit signs of decreasing their reliance on trade policy and increasing the role of their military force. However, Japan’s shift to other non-trade policies tools will be a slow process. Moreover, the trend towards economic regionalism and bilateralism will continue to place a great importance on trade policies. Although many countries hope to engage China in trade activities and make it more economically interdependent, trade policies will not dominate Chinese foreign policies. The military force will remain an important instrument to execute Chinese foreign affairs. Short of a drastic change in international system, Asian countries without any alternative tools will continue to use trade policies.